How to Avoid Getting Depressed

Ephesians 5:19-20 (NIV; emphasis mine) says “speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord,ALWAYS giving thanks to God the Father for EVERYTHING, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ“.

How many of us give thanks to God the father “ALWAYS” and “for EVERYTHING“?

When things don’t work out our way, do we remain in an attitude of thanksgiving, even though our emotions don’t feel like it?

Or, do we instead nag, grumble or complain?

That said, I think the secret of preventing oneself from getting depressed is to “always give thanks“.

Sure, things don’t always turn out the way we want, but do we not trust God to cause “all things [to] work together for good to them that love God” (Romans 8:28; KJV)?

Indeed, I find that many Christians living in comfortable societies are not in the habit of “always giving thanks”, although we are clearly instructed to do so in Ephesians. Instead, they have a grumbling, hard-to-please attitude. I guess such individuals have taken their comfortable lives for granted.

Besides having a thankful attitude, how many of us constantly practice “singing and making music from our hearts to the Lord“?

Music renders a positive, uplifting effect to our emotions, and thus, when we are devoid of music in our hearts — and on top of that, a lousy, grumbling attitude — is it no wonder that so many are depressed?

So, let us all commit Ephesians 5:19-20 to memory, so that we would be mindful about “ALWAYS giving thanks to God the Father for EVERYTHING“, and also to constantly “sing and make music from our hearts to the Lord“.

To help us in this endeavour, you may wish to play this scripture memory song over and over again: